Monday, October 8, 2018

The Arthur Dollhouse Video







I have been meaning to post this, I finally did the video of The Arthur! It's a fun little house that I enjoyed building and decorating. I learned a few things along the way, and ended up with extra furniture and accessories after I was finally done. I put some of my favorite stuff in this house, and I really enjoy looking at it and showing it off!

Please enjoy the video and feel free to ask any questions. Thank you for looking!


Monday, July 2, 2018

Ready for occupancy! Meet The Arthur...

This was fun, I enjoyed building this house. No hurry, I could work on it as little or as much as I had time for. I had a lot of ideas for kit bashing as I was building, and it's not out of the question that I buy and build another one, the way I really want it.

For now though, here are finished pics of my current Arthur:


The Arthur
The Arthur by Greenleaf


The Arthur - Back
Inside The Arthur


The Arthur

The Arthur
The Arthur

The exterior is stucco - simply made with a mixture of paint and sand. Very simple and easy to apply. Hard on the brushes, and kinda makes a splatter mess, but I love the results.

The Arthur
The Arthur - Stucco Exterior

The Arthur
The Arthur - Stucco Exterior
The roof shingles took forever, because I chose to paint half of them 2 different colors and then apply them individually (still in strips on masking tape). It was a labor of love, and I'm happy with the way it turned out overall.
The Arthur
The Arthur - Shingles for the Roof
I like to add a touch of personalization to my projects. I had this little decoration in one of my boxes, thought it would look good in this spot. I made the flower boxes for the three upper windows with balsa wood, glue and paint.

The Arthur

Detailing the front and porch was fun, but I didn't want to go overboard because the back (front) will be facing a mirror.

The Arthur

Notice the statue next to the potted plants by the welcome mat, hard to tell but it's an elephant. ALL of my houses have elephants in them :-)

The Arthur


I found this wind sock on eBay, it was in an estate lot and I bought the whole lot just to get this one item. I love it on this house, it's perfect!

The Arthur

This little birdhouse is also one of my favorite eBay finds. It's metal and hand painted.




I'm actually almost done decorating and furnishing the interior, but here are some pics of the empty version: 


I made a ceiling fan for the living room, it's not shown in this photo but it will be in the finished photos. The mini blinds are made from 1 rattan placemat I bought at Dollar Tree. I cut it to measure then used paint stain ...the living room window and also the bathroom window, which I painted white.

The Arthur
The Arthur - Living Room

The kitchen floor looks like white tile, I made it with Paperclay. I flattened it with a rolling pin, scored it with a straight edge, then painted it white. Added a few layers of Modge Podge to shine it up and seal it. The walls are clapboard siding painted white, and the wallpaper is actually scrapbook paper. The light is a giant bead glued to the ceiling.


The Arthur
The Arthur - Kitchen

I have a whole Rubbermaid tub full of sample wallpaper books I got from a paint store that went out of business. It really came in handy when decorating this bathroom! 

The Arthur
The Arthur - Bathroom

I made the ceiling fan for the bedroom with popsicle sticks and jewelry beads. It was so easy!! The chandelier above the staircase is just a couple fancy beads hung onto a paperclip. The white carpet is from a pack of colored felt pages I bought at Dollar Tree. The curtains are part of a yellow pack of swatches I bought at WalMart for $1. I used the rest of the fabric swatches to make the bedding and pillows. The walls are covered in scrapbook paper and white/grey/yellow paint.


The Arthur
The Arthur - Bedroom

The Arthur kit doesn't come with a railing for the staircase landing in the bedroom, so I picked up a bare kit on eBay and added wooden beads to the posters and painted them grey for some extra decoration.

The Arthur
The Arthur - Bedroom


I didn't do any outside landscaping because I wasn't sure exactly how and where I was going to place this for display. I found the perfect sized TV tray, and a super large mirror I'll hang up behind it so it can be seen from both sides. 

My next project, The Brookwood, also by Greenleaf, is already underway. It's beach themed, so I've been making and buying all sorts of cool little items. As with any dollhouse, the imagination is limitless!

As soon as The Arthur is complete I'll post the interior pictures, and make the video. I have a YouTube page that my projects are on. 

Thanks for looking!!


Monday, May 7, 2018

Hello Arthur!

I took a mini break from my mini world, but jumped right back into it and started The Arthur by Greenleaf! I've had it in the box for a while, and kept looking at it thinking "okay, any day now" and then finally I got all the supplies out, restocked on paint, wood, etc and cleared off the work table.  Since it's only 4 rooms, the furnishing and decorating is limited. I'm using some of my best furniture though to make it really cute. I'm handcrafting quite a bit as well to suit my needs. It will be modern themed, a home that I would live in myself HA. I debated kit-bashing it by adding a balcony off the front bedroom window and using a french door instead (which would really be a simple change and I'm surprised I've never seen one online) but I gave up at the last minute because I'm hoping to get through this one and start the next, The Brookwood by Greenleaf. I've been collecting beach themed items and I'm excited to turn it into a beachfront vacation home. I didn't want to decorate The Arthur beach themed because of the basic design of the home and the exterior features. The Brookwood is a perfect layout for a beach home, and a little more complicated to build, so I'm enjoying The Arthur for now.

Here are a few progress pics:

The Arthur

The Arthur

The Arthur

The Arthur

There's quite a bit more work to go. I still have to stain all the shingles, build-prepare-create the staircase and porch railings, build the roof and all the finishing details. Then the fun part of furnishing and decorating and putting everything in place. Stay tuned!!